“As a proud father and a man of faith, I want to sincerely apologize to those I have obviously offended,” he said. “It was never my intent to take credit for what I said or give specific credit because of how I prefaced my speech.”

He added, “The format of Ashton’s speech I liked the most because it had the most impact on me. I did not get all my ideas from Ashton. Format yes, (but the) thoughts and ideas were from my heart.”